THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  JOHN  F.  SLATER  FUND 


Occasional  Papers,  No.  2 


A  BRIEF  MEMOIR 


OF  THE  LIFE  OF 


JOHN  F.  SLATER 


OF  NORWICH,  CONNECTICUT 


1815  to  1884 


BY 


Rev.  S.  H.  HOWE,  D.  D. 

Pastor  of  the  Park  Church  in  Norwich 


BALTIMORE 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  TRUSTEES 
1894 


Price  25  Cents 


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THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  JOHN  F.  SLATER  FUND 

Occasional  Papers,  No.  2 


A  BRIEF  MEMOIR 

OF  THE  EIFE  OF 

JOHN  F.  SLATER 

OF  NORWICH,  CONNECTICUT 

1815  to  1884 


BY 

Rev.  S.  H.  HOWE,  D.  D . 

Pastor  of  the  Park  Church  in  Norwich 


BALTIMORE 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  TRUSTEES 
1894 


TRUSTEES  OF  THE  FUND. 


Appointed. 

1882. 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  of  Ohio. 

*  1893. 

1882. 

Morrison  R.  Waite,  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

*1888. 

1882. 

William  E.  Dodge,  of  New  York. 

*1883. 

1882. 

Phillips  Brooks,  of  Massachusetts. 

f  1889. 

1882. 

Daniel  C.  Gilman,  of  Maryland. 

1882. 

John  A.  Stewart,  of  New  York. 

1882. 

Alfred  H.  Colquitt,  of  Georgia. 

*1894. 

1882. 

Morris  K.  Jesup,  of  New  York. 

1882. 

James  P.  Boyce,  of  Kentucky. 

*  1888. 

1882. 

William  A.  Slater,  of  Connecticut. 

Elected. 

1883. 

William  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  of  New  York. 

1888. 

Melville  W.  Fuller,  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

1889. 

John  A.  Broadus,  of  Kentucky. 

1889. 

Henry  C.  Potter,  of  New  York, 

1891. 

J.  L.  M.  Curry,  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

1894. 

William  J.  Northen,  of  Georgia. 

1894. 

Ellison  Capers,  of  South  Carolina. 

1894. 

C.  B.  Galloway,  of  Mississippi. 

From  1882  to  1891,  the  General  Agent  of  the  Trust  was  Rev.  A.  G.  Hay- 
good,  D.  D.,  of  Georgia,  who  resigned  the  office  when  he  became  a  Bishop 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Since  1891,  the  duties  of  a 
General  Agent  have  been  discharged  by  Dr.  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  of  Washington, 
D.  C.,  Chairman  of  the  Educational  Committee. 

•Died  in  office.  f  Resigned. 

3 


ANNOUNCEMENT. 


The  Trustees  of  the  John  F.  Slater  Fund  propose  to  publish  from  time  to 
time  papers  that  relate  to  the  education  of  the  colored  race.  These  papers 
are  designed  to  furnish  information  to  those  who  are  concerned  in  the  ad¬ 
ministration  of  schools,  and  also  to  those  who  by  their  official  stations  are 
called  upon  to  act  or  to  advise  in  respect  to  the  care  of  such  institutions. 

The  Trustees  believe  that  the  experimental  period  in  the  education  of 
the  blacks  is  drawing  to  a  close.  Certain  principles  that  were  doubted  thirty 
years  ago  now  appear  to  be  generally  recognized  as  sound.  In  the  next 
thirty  years  better  systems  will  undoubtedly  prevail,  and  the  aid  of  the 
separate  States  is  likely  to  be  more  and  more  freely  bestowed.  There  will 
also  be  abundant  room  for  continued  generosity  on  the  part  of  individuals 
and  associations.  It  is  to  encourage  and  assist  the  workers  and  the  thinkers 
that  these  papers  will  be  published. 

Each  paper,  excepting  the  first  number  (made  up  chiefly  of  official  docu¬ 
ments),  will  be  the  utterance  of  the  writer  whose  name  is  attached  to  it, 
the  Trustees  disclaiming  in  advance  all  responsibility  for  the  statement  of 
facts  and  opinions. 


4 


MEMOIR. 

By  Bey.  Dr.  S.  H.  Howe. 


I. 

Mr.  John  Fox  Slater,  the  Founder  of  the  Fund  that  bears 
his  name,  was  born  in  Rhode  Island,  March  4th,  1815.1  His 
family  came  a  generation  before  from  England,  and  was 
identified  with  manufacturing  interests  in  the  countries  both 
of  its  birth  and  its  adoption.  He  who  was  to  be  associated  in 
the  public  mind  with  industrial  education  among  one  of  the 
races  on  the  continent,  was  born  to  the  inheritance  of  a  name 
which  has  held  high  eminence  for  its  relation  to  industrial 
progress.  One  of  his  near  relatives  has  been  called  the 
“  Father  of  American  Manufactures/’  Family  tradition  and 
family  prominence  along  these  lines,  early  determined  for  him 
the  career  of  a  manufacturer,  by  which  he  laid  the  foundations 
of  the  fortune  which  he  ultimately  amassed.  He  early  devel¬ 
oped  rare  business  aptitudes,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  entrust- 
ment  to  him  of  one  of  the  mills  of  his  father,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen.  From  this  early  period  he  continued  in  the  career 
of  a  manufacturer  until  his  death,  maintaining  and  enlarging 
the  plant  covered  by  his  sole  ownership  not  only,  but  also 
identified  with  other  large  manufacturing  corporations  as 
shareholder  and  director.  Starting  from  the  solid  foundation 

1  Died  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  May  7,  1884. 

5 


6 


MEMOIR. 


of  a  good  academical  education,  he  found  in  business  life  a 
training  and  discipline  which  fitted  him  to  grapple,  with  the 
hand  of  a  master,  with  the  largest  questions  in  business  and 
finance,  and  to  achieve  success  where  others  failed.  He  had 
large  experience  in  business  life,  and  developed  rare  powers 
for  the  grasp  of  its  intricate  problems.  His  business  successes 
were  not  due  to  the  chances  of  trade,  or  the  fluctuations  of 
values,  or  to  the  daring  and  the  ventures  of  speculation,  but 
were  the  fruit  of  the  sagacious  and  alert  use  of  the  opportu¬ 
nities  which  were  in  his  own  as  in  other  men’s  reach.  He 
possessed  profound  insight  and  exhaustive  knowledge  of  affairs 
and  men,  with  mental  grasp  and  business  training,  some  have 
believed,  sufficient  to  have  wisely  controlled  the  financial 
interests  of  a  nation.  His  judgment  and  counsel  were  sought 
by  great  corporations,  in  the  management  of  enterprises  and 
industries,  which  represented  large  investments  and  a  vast 
outlay  of  capital.  It  is  not  strange  that  his  ventures  were  so 
largely  successful,  and  that  his  failures  and  losses  were  excep¬ 
tional  and  rare. 

Then  his  sagacity  in  business,  which  amounted  to  genius, 
was  allied  to  honorable  methods  and  to  inflexible  business 
integrity.  Few  men  have  had  an  aversion  so  severe  and  un¬ 
compromising  to  unfairness  and  to  doubtful  practices.  His 
opportunities  for  speculation  were  many,  but  he  carefully  held 
himself  aloof  from  all  but  the  legitimate  channels  of  trade. 
He  gathered  fortune  by  honorable  methods — a  fact  of  some 
significance  to  those  who  handle  his  munificent  trust,  and  a 
significant  fact  to  those  who  are  helped  to  manhood  and  cul¬ 
ture  by  it.  The  hands  which  created  this  noble  foundation 
were  clean  hands. 

II. 

Mr.  Slater,  as  may  be  inferred  from  what  has  been  said, 
was  a  man  of  wide  intelligence,  peculiarly  receptive  and  hos¬ 
pitable  to  truth.  To  his  strong  Puritan  sense  of  right  and 
devotion  to  principle,  he  added  that  larger  interest  in  the 


MEMOIR. 


7 


world  and  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  which  gives  scope  and 
breadth  to  thought,  and  defends  against  mere  local  and  pro¬ 
vincial  sympathies.  And  yet  he  was  a  public-spirited  citizen 
in  his  adopted  city,  jealous  of  its  good  name,  generous  toward 
its  charities.  Toward  his  country  he  was  patriotic  and  loyal, 
interested  in  its  politics  and  its  legislation. 

He  was  a  man  of  strong,  pronounced  personality ;  of  fine 
fibre,  and  of  genuine  manliness — a  gentleman  by  instinct,  and 
training,  and  habit ;  reserved  and  self-respecting,  though  gen¬ 
uinely  sympathetic  toward,  and  accessible  to,  all  classes  of  men. 
He  was  sensitive  concerning,  and  deeply  averse  to,  that  adula¬ 
tion  which  goes  after  great  fortune  for  its  own  sake.  It  is 
the  testimony  of  a  friend,  who  saw  him  most  frequently 
through  a  long  period  of  years,  and  shared  his  confidence  in  a 
larger  sense  than  others,  that  in  all  his  intercourse  with  him 
he  had  not  heard  a  sentence  that  suggested  the  pride  of  fortune. 
He  wished  to  be  estimated  for  what  he  was,  and  not  for  what 
he  possessed.  And  this  rule  governed  him  in  the  estimate 
which  he  placed  upon  others.  He  was  modest  and  unosten¬ 
tatious  to  the  last  degree.  While  he  was  touched  and  gratified 
by  the  honor  which  came  to  him  in  connection  with  his  great 
gift  to  benevolence,  he  did  nothing  to  invoke  it  or  to  stimulate 
it.  He  remained  amidst  it  all  the  same  quiet,  reserved,  unos¬ 
tentatious  citizen.  He  was,  to  those  who  knew  him  well,  a 
most  delightful  and  resourceful  conversationalist.  His  breadth 
of  view,  his  versatility,  his  familiar  acquaintance  with  affairs 
and  men,  with  questions  of  finance,  politics,  and  religion,  his 
taste  for  art,  his  knowledge  of  the  world  gained  from  travel, 
made  his  companionship  delightful  to  those  who  shared  it. 

His  interest  in,  and  gitts  to,  benevolence  antedated  his  later 
beneficence.  Great  gifts  are  never  a  bit  of  pure  extemporiza¬ 
tion.  Great  things  are  not  done  on  the  spur  of  the  moment. 
Those  who  develop  unexpected  resources  on  great  occasions, 
or  show  themselves  capable  of  conspicuous  sacrifices  or  services, 
have  had  in  advance  their  rehearsals.  The  noblest  philan¬ 
thropies  are  not  extemporized  or  wrung  forcibly  from  their 


8 


MEMOIR. 


authors  by  the  stern  importunity  of  death.  Even  legacies 
have  generally  a  background  of  practical  benevolence.  Mr. 
Slater  had  given  wisely  and  generously  to  objects  that  com¬ 
mended  themselves  to  him.  Many  of  these  gifts  were  in  the 
public  eye ;  but  it  is  the  testimony  of  his  nearest  friends,  that 
he  gave  with  larger  liberality  than  the  public  could  be  aware 
of,  with  simplicity,  and  without  ostentation ;  responding  to 
cases  of  distress  and  suffering,  generously,  but  in  such  fashion 
as  to  conceal  the  giving  hand. 

III. 

But  the  conspicuous  act  of  his  life,  with  which  the  public 
has  most  concern,  is  of  course  the  creation  of  the  foundation 
for  industrial  education  among  the  freed  men.  Much  that  had 
gone  before  in  his  life,  had  been  leading  up  to  this  princely 
gift.  He  had  always  manifested  a  profound  interest  in  edu¬ 
cation,  had  given  largely,  and  had  projected  generous  measures 
for  educational  work  in  the  community,  which  however  were 
yielded  in  the  interest  of  his  larger  purpose.  His  interest  in 
local  education  has  been  most  worthily  commemorated  by  the 
splendid  Memorial  Building  erected  in  his  honor  by  his  son 
in  connection  with  the  Norwich  Free  Academy.  Mr.  Slater 
realized,  and  as  his  fortune  grew  was  oppressed  with,  the  sense 
of  the  responsibility  of  wealth,  and  planned  long  in  advance 
to  give  in  bulk  to  some  worthy  object  of  benevolence;  and  he 
resolved  to  execute  this  purpose  in  life,  rather  than  by  bequest. 
The  issues  of  the  great  civil  war  which  unloosed  the  fetters  of 
the  slave,  but  which  did  not  qualify  him  for  the  responsible 
duties  of  citizenship,  gave  Mr.  Slater  his  great  opportunity. 
He  thought  this  problem  through.  He  had  been  loyal,  pa¬ 
triotic,  and  generous  in  his  gifts  when  the  struggle  was  upon 
the  nation,  and  he  rejoiced  in  the  successful  outcome ;  but 
here  was  a  new  field  and  an  unlimited  opportunity,  which  he 
resolved  to  appropriate.  His  plan  originated  wholly,  and 
without  suggestion  from  others,  with  himself,  and  was  elabo- 


MEMOIR. 


9 


rated  to  its  minutest  detail,  in  advance  of  its  publicity. 
Standing  at  this  distance,  and  looking  through  the  experi¬ 
mental  test  of  more  than  a  decade  of  its  working,  it  is 
impossible  to  resist  the  conviction  that  it  was  statesmanlike, 
patriotic,  and  Christian,  in  its  conception  and  spirit.  Mr. 
Slater  was  wise  to  see  what  we  have  been  learning,  that  the 
exigent  want  for  the  emancipated  race  was  practical  and 
industrial  education.  The  higher  education  has  its  offices  to 
take  in  exceptional  instances,  but  for  the  masses  of  the  race, 
so  long  submerged  and  held  down  to  the  low  levels  of  intelli¬ 
gence  where  emancipation  found  it,  the  wisest,  most  practical 
and  resultful  plan  for  its  elevation  was  that  devised  by  the 
founder  of  this  educational  fund.  It  was  the  instinct  of  pa¬ 
triotism  and  of  practical  statesmanship,  to  go  to  the  weakest 
spot  in  the  body  politic,  to  strengthen  it ;  as  it  was  the  impulse 
of  Christian  thought  to  place  the  ladder  of  ascent  within  reach 
of  the  foot  of  the  lowest  man,  who  was  most  hopeless  of  self¬ 
recovery.  Perhaps  this  is  occasion  for  surprise.  Mr.  Slater 
might  have  been  patrician  in  his  sympathies,  exclusive  and 
reserved  in  his  associations;  he  had  aptitudes  and  opportunities 
for  aloofness  from  other  than  the  privileged  classes ;  he  might 
have  been  exclusive  in  his  sympathies  rather  than  inclusive. 
But  his  sympathies  swept  him  around  to  the  opposite  pole 
from  that  on  which  he  stood ;  he  crossed  the  whole  diameter 
of  society,  to  find  the  lowest  groove  in  our  social  and  national 
life,  that  he  might  do  this  conspicuous  act  of  beneficence  to  the 
poorest  of  this  nation’s  poor.  Such  examples  of  wise  benefi¬ 
cence,  which  express  the  sympathy  of  the  privileged  for  the 
unprivileged  classes,  do  much  to  lighten  the  strain  of  self- 
government  in  a  nation  like  ours.  They  do  much  to  allay 
the  antagonisms  of  society,  and  to  bridge  the  chasm  which 
opens  between  those  zones  of  enormous  wealth,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  a  degrading  poverty  which  are  drawn  across  the 
map  of  our  modern  life.  When  wealth  consents  after  this 
fashion  to  reach  out  helping  hands  toward  the  nation’s  poor, 


10 


MEMOIR. 


and  gives  aid  toward  self-help,  then  many  of  the  perplexing 
problems  of  modern  socialism  will  be  solved. 

The  wisdom  of  this  foundation  in  its  intent  and  aim,  cannot 
easily  be  overstated.  Not  to  create  the  conspicuous  institution, 
that  by  concentration  of  forces,  focuses  the  public  eye  upon  the 
giver,  but  rather  and  more  wisely  to  distribute  aid  over  a  wide 
area,  among  a  score  or  more  of  institutions ;  not  to  do  the 
premature  thing  of  providing  foundations  for  university  train¬ 
ing  for  which  the  race  has,  and  for  generations  will  have,  such 
scant  preparation,  but  rather  to  make  provision  for  training 
along  those  practical  and  industrial  lines,  which  is  the  exigent 
need,  in  order  to  self-help,  toward  the  creation  of  the  home 
and  an  ordered  life  in  the  social  community.  The  verdict 
of  his  fellow-workers  in  this  field  of  philanthropic  effort, 
after  watching  the  experiment  for  a  decade,  is  “Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant/7  and  we  may  well  believe  that  in 
these  words  we  hear  a  higher  verdict  than  man’s. 

IV. 

The  reflex  influence  of  Mr.  Slater’s  beneficence,  we  are  per¬ 
suaded,  has  been  great.  We  cannot  estimate  the  good  we  do 
when  we  do  good.  The  effect  of  this  splendid  beneficence,  in 
stimulating  philanthropic  enterprise,  passing  as  it  has  into  the 
currency  of  popular  thought  as  a  quickening  inspiration ;  its 
impetus  to  the  noble  army  of  workers  for  the  uplifting  of  the 
race  has  been  enormous.  Its  inspiration  and  influence  upon 
this  greatest  decade  of  giving,  in  all  the  history  of  the  world, 
has  been  immense,  we  are  confident.  Other  millions  have 
gotten  into  the  wake  of  this  one ;  and  we  believe  other  men 
to  whom  God  has  given  great  wealth,  and  into  whose  hearts 
the  passion  of  the  cross  has  been  poured,  are  to  be  moved  by 
it  to  the  breaking  of  their  costly  boxes  of  alabaster  in  the 
presence  of  the  world’s  Christ.  Such  men  are,  and  are  to  be, 
the  saving  and  the  enduring  forces  of  the  world.  They  may 
disappear  from  the  eye ;  they  cease  to  be  seen  as  visible  per- 


MEMOIR. 


11 


sonalities,  but  they  become  immortal  in  the  world,  as  quick¬ 
ening  influences.  They  walk  in  uncrowned  regality  through 
the  ages.  Their  gifts,  their  lives,  will  be  reduplicated  as  they 
spread  by  contagion  the  spirit  of  philanthropy  among  men ; 
passing  for  a  sort  of  fresh  incarnation  into  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  others,  who  catch  their  spirit,  and  go  to  spread  it 
and  give  it  fresh  forms  and  embodiments.  Over  such  lives 
even  death  can  have  no  power. 

V. 

Mr.  Slater  only  lived  to  see  the  genesis  of  the  work  he  did, 
and  of  the  forces  he  started  in  the  world.  His  great  gift,  at 
that  time  almost  an  unprecedented  one,  awakened  wide-spread 
interest.  The  news  spread  over  the  land  and  was  borne  across 
the  sea.  Hundreds  of  letters  congratulatory  and  appreciative 
poured  in  upon  him.  His  friends  gave  expression  to  their 
admiration.  His  city,  to  whose  name  his  beneficence  had  im¬ 
parted  a  fresh  eminence  and  fame,  made  him  aware  of  her 
appreciation  of  the  honor  he  had  bestowed  upon  her ;  but  amid 
it  all  he  remained  the  same  unostentatious,  quiet  citizen — 
grateful  and  appreciative  of  the  honor  which  had  come  to  him, 
but  accepting  it  rather  as  an  unreckoned-upon  accompaniment 
of  his  unselfish  act.  He  remained  in  the  routine  of  his  accus¬ 
tomed  business,  and  in  the  fellowship  of  friends  and  neighbors, 
as  if  he  had  only  done  a  duty  or  accepted  a  privilege  which 
lay  in  the  path  of  his  accustomed  living.  Two  years  later  the 
fatal  disease  laid  its  hand  upon  him,  when  in  the  faith  of  a 
Christian  he  girded  himself  to  go  unto  his  Father’s  House. 
To  many  of  us  it  was  the  summons  to  the  presence  of  Him 
who  was  and  is  ever  the  Supreme  Friend  of  the  poor  and  the 
lowly,  to  hear  His  commendation :  a  In  as  much  as  ye  have 
done  these  things  unto  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  them  unto  me.  Enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord.” 


> 


APPENDIX. 


i. 

LETTER  OF  THE  TRUSTEES  ACCEPTING 

THE  GIFT. 

New  York,  May  18,  1882. 

To  John  F.  Slater,  Esq.y  Norwich ,  Conn. 

The  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  whom  you  invited 
to  take  charge  of  the  Fund  which  you  have  devoted  to  the 
education  of  the  lately  emancipated  people  of  the  Southern 
States  and  their  posterity,  desire,  at  the  beginning  of  their 
work,  to  place  on  record  their  appreciation  of  your  purpose, 
and  to  congratulate  you  on  having  completed  this  wise  and 
generous  gift  at  a  period  of  your  life  when  you  may  hope  to 
observe  for  many  years  its  beneficent  influence. 

They  wish  especially  to  assure  you  of  their  gratification  in 
being  called  upon  to  administer  a  work  so  noble  and  timely. 
If  this  trust  is  successfully  managed,  it  may,  like  the  gift  of 
George  Peabody,  lead  to  many  other  benefactions.  As  it  tends 
to  remove  the  ignorance  of  large  numbers  of  those  who  have 
a  vote  in  public  affairs,  it  will  promote  the  welfare  of  every 
part  of  our  country,  and  your  generous  action  will  receive,  as 
it  deserves,  the  thanks  of  good  men  and  women  in  this  and 
other  lands. 

Your  Trustees  unite  in  wishing  you  long  life  and  health, 
that  you  may  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  result  of  your 
patriotic  forecast. 


13 


II. 


THE  THANKS  OF  CONGRESS. 


Joint  Resolution  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States, 
Approved  February  6,  1883. 

Resolved ,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled,  That 
the  thanks  of  Congress  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  presented  to 
John  F.  Slater,  of  Connecticut,  for  his  great  beneficence  in 
giving  the  large  sum  of  $1,000,000  for  the  purpose  of 
“  uplifting  the  lately  emancipated  population  of  the  Southern 
States  and  their  posterity  by  conferring  on  them  the  blessings 
of  Christian  education.” 

See.  2.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  President  to  cause 
a  gold  medal  to  be  struck  with  suitable  devices  and  inscrip¬ 
tions,  which,  together  with  a  copy  of  this  resolution,  shall  be 
presented  to  Mr.  Slater  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States. 


Joint  Resolution  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States, 
Approved  April  9,  1886. 

Resolved ,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the  sum 
of  one  thousand  dollars,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  needed, 
is  hereby  appropriated  out  of  any  moneys  in  the  Treasury  not 
otherwise  appropriated,  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  medal  ordered 
by  public  resolution  numbered  six,  approved  February  sixth, 
eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-three,  to  be  presented  to  John  F. 
Slater,  of  Connecticut,  then  living,  but  now  deceased. 

See.  2.  That  said  medal  and  a  copy  of  the  original  resolu¬ 
tion  aforesaid  shall  be  presented  to  the  legal  representatives  of 
said  John  F.  Slater,  deceased. 

14 


III. 


REMARKS  OF  PRESIDENT  HAYES  ON  THE 
DEATH  OF  MR.  SLATER. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  John  F.  Slater  Fund : 

Oar  first  duty  at  this  the  fifth  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of 
the  John  F.  Slater  Fund  for  the  Education  of  Freedmen  is 
devolved  upon  us  by  the  death,  since  our  last  meeting,  of  the 
Founder  of  this  Trust. 

John  F.  Slater  died  early  Wednesday  morning,  the  7th  of 
May  last,  at  his  home  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-nine.  He  had  suffered  severely  from  chronic  complaints 
for  several  months,  and  his  death  was  not  a  surprise  to  his 
family  or  intimate  friends. 

Two  of  the  members  of  this  Board  of  Trustees,  Mr.  Morris 
K.  Jesup  and  myself,  had  the  melancholy  privilege  of  repre¬ 
senting  the  Board  at  the  impressive  funeral  services  of  Mr. 
Slater  at  his  home,  at  the  Congregational  Church,  and  at  the 
Cemetery  in  Norwich,  on  the  Saturday  following  his  death. 

When  he  last  met  this  Board,  his  healthful  appearance  and 
general  vigor  gave  promise  of  a  long  and  active  life.  It  was 
with  great  confidence  that  we  then  expressed  to  him  our  con¬ 
viction  that  his  wise  and  generous  gift  for  the  education  of  the 
emancipated  people  of  the  South  and  their  posterity,  was  made 
at  a  period  of  his  life  when  he  might  reasonably  hope  to  observe 
during  many  years  its  beneficent  influence.  But  in  the  Provi¬ 
dence  of  God  it  has  been  otherwise  ordered,  and  the  life  which 
we  fondly  wished  would  last  long  enough  to  yield  to  him  the 

15 


16 


REMARKS  OF  PRESIDENT  HAYES. 


satisfaction  of  seeing  the  results  of  his  patriotic  forecast,  has 
been  brought  to  a  close. 

He  had  a  widely  extended  and  well  earned  reputation  for 
ability,  energy,  integrity,  and  success  as  a  manufacturer  and  as 
a  man  of  affairs.  He  was  a  philanthropist,  a  patriot,  a  good 
citizen,  and  a  good  neighbour.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Park 
Congregational  Society  in  Norwich  for  many  years  and  was 
warmly  and  strongly  attached  to  the  denomination  of  his 
choice.  His  church  relations  did  not  limit  his  sympathies, 
nor  narrow  his  views  of  duty.  In  his  letter  establishing  this 
Trust  is  the  following  clause  : 

“  The  general  object  which  I  desire  to  have  exclusively 
pursued,  is  the  uplifting  of  the  lately  emancipated  population 
of  the  Southern  States,  and  their  posterity,  by  conferring  on 
them  the  blessings  of  Christian  education.” 

When  asked  the  precise  meaning  of  the  phrase  “  Christian 
education,”  he  replied  that  “the  phrase  Christian  education 
is  to  be  taken  in  the  largest  and  most  general  sense — that,  in 
the  sense  which  he  intended,  the  common  school  teaching  of 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  was  Christian  education.  That 
it  is  leavened  with  a  predominant  and  salutary  Christian  in¬ 
fluence.  That  there  was  no  need  of  limiting  the  gifts  of  the 
Fund  to  denominational  institutions.  That,  if  the  Trustees 
should  be  satisfied  that  at  a  certain  State  institution  their 
beneficiaries  would  be  surrounded  by  wholesome  influences 
such  as  would  tend  to  make  good  Christian  citizens  of  them, 
there  is  nothing  in  the  use  of  the  phrase  referred  to  to  hinder 
their  sending  pupils  to  it.” 

I  forbear  to  attempt  to  give  a  full  sketch  of  Mr.  Slater. 
Enough  has  perhaps  been  said  to  bring  to  your  attention  the 
great  loss  which  this  Trust  has  sustained  in  the  death  of  its 
founder,  and  the  propriety  of  placing  on  our  records,  and 
giving  to  the  public,  a  worthy  and  elaborate  notice  of  his  life, 
character,  and  good  deeds. 


aw 


* 


JOHN  MURPHY  <&  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BAT/TIMORE. 


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